Multifrequency Analysis of the New Wide-Separation Gravitational Lens Candidate RX J0921+4529

Muñoz, J. A.; Falco, E. E.; Kochanek, C. S.; Lehár, J.; McLeod, B. A.; McNamara, B. R.; Vikhlinin, A. A.; Impey, C. D.; Rix, H.-W.; Keeton, C. R.; Peng, C. Y.; Mullis, C. R.
Bibliographical reference

The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 546, Issue 2, pp. 769-774.

Advertised on:
1
2001
Number of authors
12
IAC number of authors
1
Citations
24
Refereed citations
22
Description
We report the discovery of a new two-image gravitational lens candidate. The system RX J0921+4529 contains two zs=1.66 quasars separated by 6.93" with an H-band magnitude difference of Δm=1.39. The HST NIC2 H-band images reveal an H=18.2 spiral galaxy between the quasar images, which is probably a member of a zl=0.32 X-ray cluster centered on the field. We detect an extended source near the fainter quasar image but not in the brighter image. If this extended source is the host galaxy of the fainter quasar, then the system is a binary quasar rather than a gravitational lens. VLA observations at 3.6 cm reveal emission from the lens galaxy at the flux level of 1 mJy and a marginal detection of the brighter quasar. Based on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by AURA, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555. Based on observations obtained at the Multiple Mirror Telescope Observatory, a facility operated jointly by the University of Arizona and the Smithsonian Institution.